Philadelphia artist Lizzy McAlpine made her European debut in Dublin’s Button Factory on Monday the 14th of November with support on the night coming from long time collaborator Ben Kessler.
Ben Kessler’s support slot was the perfect start to the evening as his style complements Lizzy’s style beautifully. Equipped with only his guitars and a computer Ben took the stage and transported the crowd to his own world with his wonderful voice. Ben mentioned towards the start of the set that this was his first ever tour and you could see he was so excited about this. Ben also played a Snow Patrol cover towards the end of the set which was received extremely well by the crowd singing back every word to him.
When Lizzy took the stage with her bandmates Kelly (Keys, Guitar and bass) and Max (Drums). The crowd went wild and you could tell it was going to be a great show. Lizzy started the set with a song off her second album ‘Five Seconds Flat’, ‘An ego thing’s which was incredibly cinematic in person with fantastic moody lighting. The next song was ‘Over the Ocean Call’, which was definitely a little more acoustic than the first track which was a nice change in the set. The third song switched back to Lizzy’s second album with ‘All my Ghosts’ to which the crowd sang along from start to finish and seemed to love every second!
The band stuck with the second album for a short while playing ‘Firearm’ and ‘Doomsday’ which were both incredibly cinematic and beautiful thanks to the bands great playing and Lizzy’s wonderful voice. ‘To the mountains’ was much more stripped back and was a nice change giving everyone a bit of a breather.
‘Ceilings’ and ‘Called you again ‘ were two of my favourite songs on the night as you could see how much fun Lizzy and the band were having while playing them. Throughout the set Lizzy mentioned that this was the first show on her first European tour and showed her gratitude to the crowd by thanking them multiple times for coming to the show.
A notable moment of the show was when Lizzy said she was about to play a song she wrote this morning which might be her only ‘fully happy’ song. The sing was played with only Lizzy and her acoustic guitar in stage which was really beautiful. Lizzy also played another unreleased song, ‘Come down Slow’ during the set. It was great to hear new music from Lizzy in this setting.
‘Angelina’ was probably the slowest song in the set and was a lovely moment with the crowd soaking up the moment as Lizzy poured her heart out to the crowd. Towards the end of the set Lizzy brought out Ben to perform one of his songs False art which was a great performance and it was lovely to hear their voices together in person.
At this point in the set Lizzy said ‘ it’s time for a classic ‘ and proceeded to play ‘ Apple Pie’ to which the crowd responded with great applause. Once again this sing sounded fantastic live, potentially even better than the recorded version. At the end of this song Lizzy said ‘ I don’t believe in encores so we have 3 more songs’. The first if the 3 was ‘Erase me’ before playing ‘Pancakes for dinner’. This was definitely a crowd favourite with the crowd singing especially loud for this one.
My favourite song of the set ‘Orange Show Speedway ‘ was the last song played on the night. It was the most high tempo song if the set and got the crowd moving for one last time before bringing them back down to earth with the last verse of the song. A true masterpiece in every sense!
This show was just amazing from start to finish and I look forward to catching Lizzy again soon. Tickets for her worldwide ‘End of the Movie’ tour next summer are on sale now so be sure to grab some. You won’t be disappointed!!
